Capsules have long been recognized as a preferred dosage form for the oral delivery of active ingredients, which may be in the form of powder, liquid or granules of different compositions, for delivery to the gastro-intestinal tract of a human. Advantages of capsules as a dosage form include the variety of shapes and color combinations (including different colored caps and bodies), enhancing their unique identification, their glossy elegant appearance, and their easy swallowability. One type of commonly used capsule is a two-piece hard shell capsule, typically made from gelatin, starch, or cellulose derivatives. The hard shell capsule typically comprises a longer body having an outside diameter, and a relatively shorter cap having an inside diameter that will just fit over the outside diameter of the body. The cap fits snugly over the body, creating an overlapping portion of the capsule.
In view of the tamperability of old-fashioned capsules made with hard shell capsule halves of different diameters which can be taken apart, steps have been taken since the 1980s, to manufacture capsule shells which, once assembled, cannot be disassembled without their destruction. One such example is the Capsugel CONI-SNAP® capsule, which has grooves that lock the cap and body together after the capsule has been filled. Another such example is the Parke-Davis KAPSEAL® capsule, in which the body and cap are sealed together using a band of gelatin. Although the sealing or banding of capsule shell halves has, in a large part, proven effective to at least make tampering evident to the consumer, some companies have preferred to manufacture solid dosage forms having densely compacted cores to further reduce the possibility of tampering.
One of the first types of film-coated elongated compressed tablets was referred to as a “caplet”. The caplet form offered enhanced swallowability over uncoated tablets due to its elongated shape and film-coated surface, similar to that of the capsule. It did not, however, enable the multi-colored glossy surface appearance of a capsule. While caplets are still popular today, the next generation of dosage forms, which offered all of these advantages of the capsule, comprised densely compacted cores that were coated with gelatin or similar glossy materials, typically in two parts having different colors. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,089,270; 5,213,738; 4,820,524; 4,867,983 and 4,966,771 represent different approaches to providing a capsule-shaped product in the form of an elongated tablet having a coating, which provides the appearance and, therefore, the consumer acceptability of the previously popular capsule.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,415,868 and 5,317,849 disclose different manners by which either hard shell capsule halves can be shrink-wrapped onto a tablet (the '868 patent) or a tablet core covered at opposite ends with a soft gelatin capsule shell half and subsequently dried to simulate a capsule-like medicament (the '849 patent). U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,631 suggests that studies have also shown the functional importance to consumers of providing a capsule-appearing solid dosage form, which is multi-colored. The utilization of two colors functionally identifies the type of medication as well as provides a capsule-appearing product with a psychologically perceived medicinal efficacy. Aesthetically, also, consumers apparently prefer the attractive appearance of multi-colored capsules to single colored capsules.
Thus, there has been a rush by the pharmaceutical industry to provide over-the-counter gelatinous coated dosage forms which simulate the appearance of capsules and which have a variety of multiple colors which identify the type of medication provided so that the consumer can readily identify, for example, if the product is a particular type of analgesic or whether it includes antihistamines or other active ingredients in combination with analgesics. Such solid dosage forms have preferably been in the shape of an elongated tablet, and are identified as gelcaps when a solid elongated core is covered with a gelatinous covering or geltabs where the core is in the shape of a round tablet with a gelatinous coating.
The present invention furthers these earlier advances by producing an improved gelcap or geltab having faster disintegration and/or dissolution times relative to the commercially available gelatinous coated products.